Essays & PapersEthics Essay on the different between absolute and relative morality - Paper Example

Ethics Essay on the different between absolute and relative morality - Ethics Essay Example

Explain with examples, the main differences between absolute and relative morality

Absolute morality is that something is always good or bad, there are no grey areas take for instance a roman catholic who strictly follows the popes teachings, they will probably take an absolute morality view on abortion like when Pope John Paul 2nd stated in a speech in 1995 that “I confirm that the direct and voluntary killing on an innocent human being is always gravely immoral.” Can suggest a belief that there are no greys lines between the subject - Ethics Essay on the different between absolute and relative morality introduction. On the other hand relative morality is when there are things that are good and bad, but it depends on the situation whether it was the right thing to do or not. An example would be for instance a woman who has been sleeping around constantly and got pregnant but wanted an abortion could be seen as frowned upon for being immoral because she isn’t taking the right safety measures and it’s her own fault for getting pregnant, but on the other hand it could be seen as morally right if a 12 year old girl is raped by a family member and becomes pregnant in the process, this is taking every situation at face value and different.

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There’s a big difference between Absolute and Relative morality when it comes to the topic of abortion. A roman catholic could argue that if someone has had an abortion it’s breaking natural law and therefore seen as murder by some Roman Catholic’s this is suggested by Mother Teresa when she opposed abortion, in a talk she gave in Norway on when she was awarded the 1979 Nobel Prize for Peace, she called abortion “the greatest destroyer of peace today”. She further asserted that, “Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love but to use violence to get what they want. This can be seen as deontological view because she was gravely concerned with the act itself and how she felt it went against natural law and people are using violence and not love.

Although this is the case for some Roman Catholic’s who share Mother Theresa’s view there is a significant amount of Roman Catholic’s that don’t share an absolutist view on abortion and are quite liberal on the subject. Like a poll took in 2013 from www.lifesitenews.com that 50% of the Catholic’s in the poll believe abortion should be legal in most cases, this can be seen as subjectivism because it’s taking a different view point from Catholics and not stereotyping them all the same. On the flipside there could be an absolutist argument for abortion. In china families are regulated by law to being only allowed to have one child. The Chinese government even encourages abortion if a woman is to get regularly pregnant. For instance an eight-month pregnant woman was dragged from her home and forced to have an abortion because she had broken China’s one-child-per-family law. This could be seen as immoral but in Chinese culture this could also be seen as moral because she’s breaking the law of the land. This is also a Deontological view because closely linking “law” with morality.

Reality morality when it comes to abortion is a more common way of thinking, as I stated before about the poll that 50% of Catholic’s are in favor of abortion many other groups in society give it backing as well such as feminist groups that argue woman have a right to have the choice on abortion because it’s their body and to take that choice away would be morally wrong. While other members of society take a stance on individual cases this can be seen as teleological thinking because the rightness or wrongness of the act of abortion is decided by the situation of why it’s occurring which will make it morally right/wrong. Human rights group argue that it is a human right to have the choice on abortion because it’s our body and we shouldn’t feel intimidated to make a decision one or the other and is down to the person itself.

Evaluating both points of relative and absolute morality it can be suggested that both arguments have positive and negatives outputs on ways of thinking, Having an absolutist view on abortion can be seen as dangerous and not taking into account cases to cases of why the abortion is happening and can argued by groups in society like feminisms that you would be taking a blind approach if you had an absolutist view and ignorant one at that if a woman has been subjected to rape or abuse and that is a key factor in why she has become pregnant. On the other hand Absolutists on the issue could argue that relative morality is going against natural law and the moral code existing within nature itself, some religious groups may even go as far to say as you’re going against the word of god and doing something very immoral for having subjectivism elements (assertions of opinion) as to why you’re not taking a real stance against an immoral act in their opinion.